Bottle cooler



June 18, 1940. H. R. HEINTZN 2,204,804

BOTTLE COOLER Filed Aug. 13, 1938 g '32 x/a, il@ \r7 xo y \& Y?

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 6.31% HARRY R. Hmmzm. ,@.y uw MWL ATTORNEY Patented June 1'8, 1940 BOTTLE COOLER Harry R. Heintzen, Philadelphia, Pa., assignorto Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing vCompany, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 13,

6 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigerators and more particularly to refrigerators of the forced convection type employing air ducts. Refrigerators of this type have heretofore employed air 5 ducts which occupied valuable space in the re frigerator and thereby reduced the space available yfor the articles to be refrigerated. l.

One Iobject of this invention is to provide a .refrigerator of the :forcedv convection type in l@ which the spacefoccupyingfair ducts are eliminated." j l .Another object of theinvention is to provide a refrigerator of thetype described in which the air ducts are adapted for storing the articlesV to 15 be refrigerated.

A further object is to provide a compact cooler for bottled beverages which cooler is economical to manufacture and which is readily serviced in the field.

Another object is to provide a refrigerator of the type described in which the loss of chilled air when opening the door is reduced.

These and other objects are eected by my invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in' connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application in which the invention is applied tc a bottle cooler and in which:

Fig. l is a vertical section of the bottle cooler g@ on the line I-l of Fig. 3, looking in lthe direction of the arrows;

llig 2 is a partial vertical section similar to Fig. l but with one shelf raised to accommodate larger bottles; and,

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the bottle cooler as it appears after the cover is removed.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the reference numeral Il@ represents the out er sheli of the cabinet of the cooler. A hori- 4@ zontal partition li is secured to the shell i@ which partition divides thercabinet into an up per refrigerated chamber 022 and a lower rna= chine compartment t3. The upper refrigerated chamber i2 -is lined with heat insulating mate- 45 rial i5 and is provided with an inner liner i5. An accessopening it is provideolin the upper wall of the refrigerated chamber, the edges of which opening are lined witha strip ii of heat insulating material which unites the outer shell i g@ iti and the inner liner i5. The opening is normally closed by an insulated lid or closure it of the same general construction as the Walls of vthe refrigerated chamber i2. A second and smaller" opening i9 is provided in the bottom of the insulated chamber i2 and in which openwes, serian No. 224,663

(ci. fia-1oz) ing a removable section 2l is secured by a metal strip 22 and bolts 23. The edges of the lower -opening and the removable section are con structed in the same general manner as the edges an actuating rod 32 which presses the contacts 29 together against the action of the spring 2@ when the lid l@ is closed. On raising the lid it, the spring 2t raises the upper contact it thereby stopping the motor 263. This arrangement prevents the fan 25 from blowing the chilled air out of the refrigerator when the lid it is raised.

An evaporator or 'cooling unit 33 is positioned above the fan 25. This evaporator comprises a series of parallel and spaced-apart plates e@ through which a refrigerant carrying tube titi is passed back and forth. The evaporator 33 is supported above the fan 25 by means of a shroud to which directs the air circulated by the fan 25 through the evaporator The shroud Si, in turn, is supported on the removable section 2i by upright bars-3i. f.

The evaporator 33 supports a grid 3i) confiprising parallel and spaced bars which run 'transversely to the plates it of the evaporator. This grid 3d supports th'ebottles to be cooled and provides transverse air passages above the plates 36 of the evaporator so that a section oi the evaporator 35i cannot become obstructed by a row of bottles.

Adjacent the grid St are two shelves 39 sup= ported by hinges Gi in the side Walls of the re frigerated chamber l2. The hinges lli permit the shelves t@ to bev swung upwardly against the respective sides of the refrigerated chamber l2 to which they are secured so that access may be had to the bottles below the shelves The shelves Se when in the horizontal position rest at one of their shorter edges on a vertical partition l2 in the chamber i2. The lower portion of this partition is provided with openingsvv i3 through which the air in the cabinet passes to the fan 25. The shelves 39 are imperiorate eX- cept for the hand holes 35i by means of which the shelves Si) may be grasped to raise them.

A third shelf d5 is hingedly supported upon an end wall of the chamber l2 in the same manner and in the same horizontal plane as the shelves 39. The shelf 35, when in the horizontt A switch ai' isv connected in series with the motor 2li Which L switch 2i comprises a spring 28, contacts 29, and.

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SES

tal position, rests on pegs Il@ in the side walls of the refrigerated chamber l2. The shelf [l5 comprises a wire frame lll and spaced rods it welded to the end members of the frame il so that the shelf l5 offers substantially no obstruction to the air circulating through the chamber l2. The grid 33, the shelves 353 and 45, and the bottom of the chamber l2 with the exception of the portion occupied by the fan 25 and the evaporator 33 are adapted for supporting bottles.

The operation of the refrigerator as thus far described is as follows:

The fan 25 draws the air through the openings G3 in the partition l2 and propels it through the shroud 3G, the evaporator 33, the grid Sil on the evaporator, across the bottles on the grid 3@ and on the shelves 39 and 15, through the shelf 5 to the lower portion of the chamber i2 and across the bottles stored therein. When the lid I8 of the bottle cooler is raised, the electric current to the motor 24 is interrupted by the opening of the switch 21 so that no refrigerated air is blown from the chamber I2,

It will be observed that the imperforated shelves 39 act as an air baffle about which the chilled air circulates. The air is thus directed in a positive manner across the bottles to be cooled without the aid of space-occupying air ducts. It will also be observed that the bottlesA themselves form the greatest obstruction to the flow of air. The power of the fan 25 is therefore expended mainly ln wiping the air over the surface of the bottles. Since the rate of cooling an article is dependent upon the speed at which the cooling fluid brushes over the surface of the article, it is apparent that the energy of the fan 25 is employed mainly in effecting cooling of the bottles and is not wasted in forcing air through empty and constricted ducts. This is of additional importance when it is considered that all the energy supplied to the motor 2d of the fan 25 is eventually transformed into heat which must again be abstracted from the cabinet by the cooling unit.

Fig. 2-shows how a limited number of tall bottles may be stored in the refrigerated chamber i2.' In this case the shelf [l5 is raised and lies fiat against the end wall of the chamber l2.

The bottle cooler may be used as follows: when sales are light, only the top compartment is used,`

the bottles being dispensed from the end c'ontaining the cooling unit and the remaining bottles moved to the left as viewed in Fig. 1 to provide room for the insertion of warm bottles at the right hand end. The bottles in the lower compartment form a reserve supply for periods of heavy dispensing. When such periods occur; the bottles in the upper compartment will not be suiciently refrigerated during the course of their journey towards the cooling unit. The lbottles in the upper compartment are then interchanged with those in the lower compartment so that the warmer bottles will have anadditional time to cool inthe lower compartment.

A refrigerant liquefying unit is positioned in the machine compartment. This unit comprises a condenser lla, a fan 5l driven by the motor 52 and .partially enclosed in a shroud 53 and a casing 50 provided with fins 55 enclosing a motor-compressor unit. The casing 56 is connected by a suction tube 58 to the evaporator 33 and to the condenser Z39 by a pressure tube 5l. The condenser is connected to the evaporator through the capillary impedance tube 58. Both tubes 56 and 58 pass through the removable section 2l so that by removing the bolts 28 and. the strips 22 the aaoaeoa entire refrigerating unit including the evaporator the motor 2G and fan 25, and the refrigerant liquefying unit may be removed from the cabi net without disconnecting either of the tubes 5G and 58.

It will be apparent from the above that the invention provides a refrigerator utilizing forced circulation of air `positively directed over the articles to be cooled but in which no space is wasted by air ducts. The structure is also such that the cabinet and the refrigerating unit may be manufactured separately and united whenever convenient. The refrigerating unit may also be replaced in the field in case of trouble. The in- Vention also provides a novel method for preventing a waste of refrigerated air when the lid is opened.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will lbe obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a refrigerator, the combination of an insulated chamber having a bottom, side walls, and a removable top, a cooling unit in said chamber, said cooling unit having air passages, a shelf adjacent said cooling unit and spaced from the top and bottom of said chamber to define a food storage space above and below said shelf, said shelf including a movable portion to afford access to the food storage space below said shelf, fan meansfor circulating the air through the passages in the cooling unit, said cooling unit and shelf being so arranged that said air circulates from said cooling unit, around said shelf and returns to said cooling unit.

2. In a refrigerator, the combination of an insulated chamber having a bottom, side walls, and a removable top, a cooling unit in said chamber, said cooling unit having air passages therein; a shelf adjacent said cooling unit and spaced from the top and bottom of said chamber lto define a food storage space vabove and below said shelf, said shelf comprising a hinged portion adapted to swing upwardly to permit access to the food storage space below said shelf, fan means for circulating the air in said chamber through the passages in the cooling unit, said chamber and shelf being so arranged that said air circu lates around the shelf.

3. In a dry bottle cooler, the combination of an insulated chamber having a bottom, side walls, and a removable top, a cooling unit in said cham ber, said cooling unit having air passages therein, a shelf adjacent said cooling unit and spaced from the top and the bottom of said chamber to define a bottle storage space above and below said shelf, said shelf comprising a hinged por tion adapted to swing upwardly to permit access to the bottle storage space normally below said shelf, fan means for circulating the air in said chamber through the passages in the cooling unit, said cooling unit and shelf being so arranged that said air passes over the shelf and returns underneath said shelf toy said cooling unit.

4. In a dry bottle cooleran insulated chamber having a removable top, 'a bottom, side walls, and end walls, a cooling unit having air passages in said chamber, said cooling unit being adjacent an end wall but spaced from the top of said chamber to dene a bottle storage space above said cooling unit, a substantially imperforate shelf extending from said cooling unit into and spaced from the top and bottom of said chamber to denne a bottle storage space above and below said shelf, said shelf also being spaced from the end wall of said chamber opposite said cooling unit, said shelf comprising a portion hinged to and adapted to swing upwardly against; a side wall of said cham; ber to permit access to the bottle storage space below said shelf, a perforated shelf hinged to and adapted to swing upwardly against the end wall opposite the cooling unit, and a fan for circulating the air in said chamber through the air passages of sai-d cooling unit, over said substanti-ally imperforate shelf, through said perforated shelf, and underneath said imperforate shelf to said cooling unit.

5. In a refrigerator, the combination of an insulated chamber having a bottom and a top, an access opening in said top, a cover for said opening, means for cooling said chamber, a shelf spaced from the top and bottom of said chamber sulated chamber having a bottom, side walls, and 10 a top, an Iaccess opening in ysaid top, a cover for said opening, means for cooling said chamber, a substantially imperforate shelf spaced from the top and bottom off said chamber to define a food storage space above and below said shelf, said l5 shelf. .being spaced also from two opposite side walls of said chamber to provide a passage for circulating the air of said chamber around said shelf, said shelf including a movable portion to afford access to the food storage space below said 20 shelf, and fan means for circulating said air through said passage and in contact with said cooling means.

HARRY R. HEINTZEN. 

